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Detectives Say Evidence Ties Man to Wife’s Death

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Sheriff’s detectives investigating the murder of a La Canada Flintridge woman testified Monday that evidence found near the woman’s body in a remote desert area indicates that it was put in a plastic trash barrel, doused with gas and set on fire by a long fuse.

The testimony came during the first day of a preliminary hearing in Victorville Municipal Court for Donald Miralle, 46, accused of strangling his wife, Tessie, 49, on Sept. 12 and dumping the body in the desert west of Victorville, where it was set on fire.

Detectives testified that Don Miralle had purchased a long fuse through a catalogue in 1988 and that tire prints near where the body was found were traced to a vehicle he owned. They said they do not know where the woman was murdered.

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Also Monday, two teen-age children of the couple testified that their parents often fought and talked about getting a divorce. The hearing was expected to conclude today.

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